Oxford to host Thursday graduation next year

OXFORD — Oxford High School will hold it 2014 graduation on a Thursday.

The Oxford Eagle reports that it’s the first time school officials can recall when graduation ceremonies will not be held on a weekend.

The graduation date has been set for May 22 at C.M. “Tad” Smith Coliseum due to a conflict in schedules with the University of Mississippi and Lafayette High School. Ole Miss requested that no Saturday graduations be schedule because the Memorial Day weekend is a holiday for university employees

“The university doesn’t prefer us to have it on Saturday leading into Memorial Day Weekend,” said Oxford Assistant Superintendent Bill Hamilton. “They like to give their people (the weekend) off instead of having to come in and reset up. The university doesn’t charge us to use it and so we try to be fairly cooperative.”

Lafayette High will have its graduation on Friday, May 23.

Water Valley High School, which traditionally has graduated on the Thursday night that Oxford is now set for, plans to graduate on May 20, also at the Ole Miss coliseum.

“The way the university does it, we share with other schools and since Lafayette’s graduation was ahead of ours this year, they got first pick and we were moved to Thursday night,” Oxford Superintendent Brian Harvey said.